A letter seen by the Wall Street Journal has revealed that Apple Music pays artists a penny per stream of a song. That’s a significantly higher rate than that offered by rival Spotify.
Apple Music Pays Artists Penny Per Stream, Double or Three Times Spotify Offering
The letter said:
As the discussion about streaming royalties continues, we believe it is important to share our values. We believe in paying every creator the same rate, that a play has a value, and that creators should never have to pay for featuring.
Apple Music also said that 52 percent of subscription revenues go to record labels.
Spotify recently outlined its own payment structure in a report called ‘Loud and Clear’. On average, it pays about one-third to a one-half penny per stream. It has considerably more users though – around 155 million compared to Apple’s approximately 60 million. This means it contributes more to the industry overall.
New research by Ender Analysis said that while “Spotify gives the ‘long tail’ of largely amateur acts an online discovery platform, encouraging a boom in self- publishing… payouts are anaemic.” It revealed that only five percent of artists generate annual industry royalties of above US$1,000 on Spotify. Furthermore, 0.02 percent generate over US$1 million.